With a few exceptions, such as those whose profession it is to operate motor vehicles, the time spent driving is generally regarded by most individuals as unproductive time. Such unproductivity can be made worse by the aggravation and other emotional toll experienced by drivers who are stuck in high-volume traffic situations. As such, it has long been desirable to avoid high-volume traffic situations while driving. Such desirability has been met with a myriad of traffic information available to individuals to aid them in avoiding high-volume traffic situations, or other traffic-based incidences that they wish to avoid. For example, many automobile navigational systems now provide some measure of real-time traffic information. Similarly, as another example, many network-based mapping applications likewise provide real-time traffic information.
Often, the traffic information that is provided is generalized for easier consumption. For example, traffic information is often provided utilizing the ubiquitous red, yellow and green color coding, where green color is utilized to indicate a low-volume traffic situation while red is utilized to indicate a high volume traffic situation. As another example, traffic information is also often provided in terms of average speed or amount of time taken to travel a predefined distance, such as between two well-known intersections or other such landmarks. While such generalized traffic information can be, indeed, easier for the user to consume, such as if the user is preoccupied with operating a motor vehicle, it can, in certain circumstances, simply not provide sufficient information.
For those circumstances in which more detailed traffic information may be desired, traffic information can also be provided in the form of real-time images of motor vehicle traffic in a particular location, typically through video cameras that are communicationally coupled to a larger network of computing devices, such as the ubiquitous Internet, or equally ubiquitous World Wide Web. Traditionally, such traffic cameras are maintained by governmental agencies, such as a state or local Department of Transportation, and are mounted and positioned in such a manner to provide a vantage point in a particular direction of an important road or other thoroughfare. Typically, access to the images provided by such traffic cameras can be obtained through websites, or other like network-based interfaces, in the form of raw traffic camera image feeds. For example, a website can display a map with the positions of traffic cameras indicated via appropriate icons, or other indicators. Selection of such icons, or other indicators, can result in the presentation of the raw traffic camera image feed, often within a sub window or other like independent user interface element.
Due to cost and bandwidth considerations, typically, the traffic cameras utilized may not be able to provide high-quality images. Furthermore, traffic cameras are designed to provide images of motor vehicle traffic, and do not provide contextual, or surrounding images. Consequently, users often experience confusion when accessing traffic camera image feeds. For example, it is often difficult for users to determine in which direction a traffic camera is facing. Likewise, it is often difficult for users to identify exactly which roadway is being pictured, since the presentation of the traffic camera image feed, as a live, real-time, moving image presentation, is contextually vastly different from the displayed map from which the user selected the traffic camera, and which provided the iconic visual indicator of the traffic camera's location.